The present application relates to a computer-implemented method of joining a user into a conference call, and more specifically, relates to the provision of a user interface from which a user may easily initiate joining a conference call.
It is common for people to engage in collaborative work. Increasingly, collaboration occurs among people who are geographically separated from one another. When collaborators desire to meet, they may all physically converge in one location for a meeting. Alternatively, and as is more typical nowadays, collaborators may remain at their respective geographic locations but instead meet via conference call.
The ability to meet via conference call has been made possible by the provision of conference call systems by telephony service providers. A subscriber to such a conference call system may, in exchange for payment of a subscription fee, host conference calls. In particular, the service provider may provide the host subscriber a telephone number. The host, who is sometimes also referred to as the “moderator”, may then give that phone number, i.e. the “dial-in number”, to desired participants in the conference call. Each participant, including the host, may call the dial-in number at the designated meeting time, i.e. each participant may “dial-in” to the conference call. The conference call system may then “bridge” or link the callers' phone lines together, joining all participants into the conference.
Alternatively, instead of subscribing to a conference call system maintained by a third party telephony service provider, certain organizations may have their own conference call system. These private conference call systems may function similarly.
In addition to the dial-in phone number, conference call systems often include the capability for the host to set a security code. The host may give the security code, for example for a given conference call event, to each desired participant in the conference in addition to the dial-in number. Subsequent to dialing the dial-in number and being connected to the conference call system, each participant may be prompted to enter the security code. Only after entering the correct security code will a participant be placed into the conference. While the security code is optional, many people/organizations choose to use one since dial-in numbers may be distributed widely and may therefore become widely known. Requiring that a security code be entered helps ensures that only those people with the code can successfully join the conference.
A participant desiring to join a conference call must therefore dial first a multi-digit telephone number followed by a multi-digit security code. This requirement presents at least two difficulties. First, since the participant is unlikely to remember the required sequence of digits, he or she needs to record them upon receipt, for example, from the host, such that he or she is able to later retrieve those digits at the designated meeting time. Secondly, even after retrieving the digits, the user must typically subsequently enter them into the telephone in order to be successfully connected and placed into the conference call. Given the many digits that the user must enter, the user is prone to mis-dialing the dial-in number and incorrectly entering the security code.
There therefore exists a need to more easily enable a user to join a conference call.
Similar reference numerals may have been used in different figures to denote similar components.